A Security Concern For All

Felicia60
Level 3
Wasilla, AK

A Security Concern For All

Let me begin by saying that I have been a host since 2011. I find the practice of  encouraging hosts to lower their price with the suggested competitive pricing is attracting bad clientele. 

 

Last year an AirBnB guest booked a room at my BnB. I checked his profile, he had no picture. I was concerned and searched his name on google and discovered that he had stabbed a woman in a nearby town and had an extensive record. I refused the reservation. Since then I have checked out each and every AirBnB guest due to this obvious lax in security.  

 

 

Then another AirBnB guest came to stay with me for a month. He appeared to be legitimate and was the head of a Non-Profit. He prepaid but wanted to extend for another month paying me with his wife's credit card. To make a long story short they defrauded us and it was later learned that their Non-Profit was under investigation in their home state.

 

The new policy of Not Sharing Guest's Names is security issue for me and all hosts. I will, after 8 years, no longer host under these conditions

35 Replies 35

Can u please tell me other venues that give you names of prospective guest.  A big concern for me,

I am not sure if ABB will allow that but just search for the name of a local B&B through google and the services that they use usually will be the ones posting the ad.

 

 

@Felicia60  Then are you a traditional B&B with an association? We are striving toward that but haven't taken that step yet, because I wasn't sure if we qualified or if it was worth it. We do list with another service similar to Airbnb who doesn't care that we are listed here so I can't imagine why Airbnb should make an issue. I don't remember signing an exclusivity clause.  

 

Hi Felicia60,

 

Could you tell me the other venues you speak of?  I live in Ouzinkie near Kodiak and my Airbnb is in Ohio. 

 

Randy

Sean433
Level 10
Toronto, Canada

If something seems off, I just find a way to cancel and it won't be my problem anymore. Unfortunately, the next host who is not as experienced may make the mistake of hosting that person but sometimes you have to go through the bottom of the barrel to learn from your mistakes.

Sean do you understand that,  soon, you will no longer be given the name of the guests?

 

Andrea2885
Level 1
Boerne, TX

Wow. So good to know. 

I'm new at this and  I appreciate the advice and experiences y'all have shared.

Christina99
Level 3
Columbia Heights, MN

I wasn't aware that we won't be able to see guest names in the future, that is very concerning. I agree I find it disturbing when ABB suggests I lower my rates. The quality of guests has really taken a nose dive. My last two guests were terrible. The second guest was staying one night on a credit because another host canceled (they dodged the bullet) and then he managed to extend the stay without a valid credit card. I discovered that I hadn't been paid when I checked to see if payout had been issued. I contacted ABB and wanted it resolved on Tuesday or I was going to throw the guest out. It is now Friday and ABB response has been "we haven't been paid so we can't pay you." the guest trashed the space which required four hours of cleaning by my cleaning person. The entire apartment smelled of weed and the front door had been left open for three hours, they left around 8:30 and my cleaning person showed up at 11:15. Right now I'm out almost $300 for this stay and I'm have no confidence that this isn't going to happen again.

Christina99
Level 3
Columbia Heights, MN

Also I want to share a incident I had last November. I have instant book on and when I got up Sunday morning I had a instant book for that afternoon, this came in around 1am and then around 3am it was cancelled by ABB. Unfortunately they share your details after it was booked, really shouldn't be vetting people after the fact. I've had this happen 4-5 times over the past three years. Around 8 am I went up to change the batteries in the keypad and someone had been smoking on the porch. I sent a note to the guest reminding them there was no smoking in the apartment or porch and they replied that they were in Chicago. I didn't have cameras up there at that point but it seems to me that the instant book guest showed up and gained entry to the apartment. They left lights and the tv on and some random trash. I don't know if they were going to try and use the internet for something, but couldn't because I have a wireless router. Thank god my guest had left for a very early morning flight or it could've been very bad. I've since changed my check in process so each guest gets a unique code and I shut the old code off promptly after check out time. When I spoke to ABB they advised me to turn off Instant Book to be safer! Oh and to make my location description more generic, I did point out that they accepted the booking and gave the person my address.

You should have received an email with the subject  Upcoming change to iCal listing information. The details are in there. 

Lauris-and-Gene0
Level 3
Wilmington, NC

I was not aware that, as mentioned above, we will soon not be able to see the guest's last name and phone number. This obviously is a huge problem. I'm wondering how I managed to miss this information. Was it announced to all hosts via email or some other manner?

You should have received an email with the subject  "Upcoming change to iCal listing information." The details are in there. 

 

@Felicia60   I have not seen/received an email from Airbnb stating that soon, we won't be able to see the full names of guests anymore.  When did you receive this email and would you mind sharing the content?  Thanks!

Jeremy100
Level 10
England, United Kingdom

So if I understand this correctly your guest booked a further month with you and paid you directly (so you both did not have to pay the Airbnb fees?) and your now pissed that you got taken for a ride.  That’s like blaming an insurance company for not paying your claim when you have not paid the premium.  I think you should take some responsibility for your actions.

No Jeremy I am not pissed about the guest that ABB introduced us to. Just mentioning a fact. You evidently skimmed over the first part of my post.